Market Spotlight: Do you have what it takes to make it in Brazil?

What is Market Spotlight series all about?

In the Market Spotlight series, we research new, emerging and overlooked markets. Our first post in the series was about China and the opportunities its market offers to app developers. Now, we turn our spotlight on the land of football, carnivals and the home of the Amazon. Welcome to Brazil.

Get in line for caipirinha and feijoada - Brazil’s market should be your next stop

Brazil has a population of over 200 million people, which makes it the fifth most populated country in the world. It is also the fourth biggest market in the world and the giant of the South American market. According to Statista, there were 139.1 million Internet users in Brazil at the beginning of 2018. That’s almost 5 times more than Argentina - which boasts the third place.

The official language is Portuguese, a language that boasts almost a quarter of a billion speakers. However, only 2.8% of web content is available in the language. Why? And are you making a big mistake overlooking this market? Simple answer - yes. Here’s why.

Brazil <3 Android

Sorry, iOS fans. If you are considering developing an app for the Brazilian market, you probably should focus on creating Android apps. In September 2018, a surprising 95% of the users are Android-bound and iOS users are just below 4%. Google Play store is the pinpoint for buying apps and it’s no surprise that most apps bought in Brazil are Android.

Although Brazilians don’t spend as much time using apps as mobile users in China do, the market is pretty lively. The definite number one app in Brazil is Whatsapp. It is important to note is that the most popular apps in Brazil are owned by Facebook: Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram. They all aggregate a huge following and this brings us to several important points.

If you are planning an app with a login option, it would be smart to include an option to log in via Facebook accounts.
Marketing by using social media is a great option. There is a huge pool of users, it’s easier to target them than it would be perhaps in China, and it can be done on a modest budget if done well.
It might be hard to make it in the Brazilian market if your app is similar to these services. Luckily, Brazilians have a taste for other apps as well, and that might just be where your potential lies.

Shopping, food, and transport - what Brazilians like to use their apps for

Telecommunication apps are a big deal in Brazil, sure. However, this market is diverse and developing at turbo speed.

Among the most popular apps in Brazil are online banking apps and e-commerce apps for services like Mercado Livre. The statistics say there are many reasons to consider investing in developing such apps. The number of digital buyers in Brazil is expected to reach over 100 million people by 2022 and now is the right time to start positioning in the market.

According to SimilarWeb.com, dominating the list of top grossing and top paid apps are actually games. Brazilians like their mobile phone games. If you are in the gaming industry, this is a market you cannot afford to dismiss.

Additionally, apps used to order food (iFood) and transportation (such as 99Taxis and Uber) are doing very well in the market.

The monetization of apps in Brazil can be a promising goal, but here’s the catch.

Localization do’s and don’ts

The key to the Brazilian market is localization. Now, here’s why.

As we mentioned previously, Portuguese is a language that boasts several hundreds of millions of speakers. In addition, according to the EF English Proficiency Index, Brazil takes the 53rd place of 88 surveyed countries. This means that a vast majority of mobile users in Brazil will respond to your app much better if it’s properly localized to their native language.

So, what’s next?

Next stop is - localizing your apps and getting them ready for the Brazilian welcoming market. Here at LingoHub, we’ll take care of those tricky accented characters, the nuances of dialects and check with native speakers every single idiom and expression.